10118

09/09/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10118

PALESTINIAN OPPOSES MURDERS

Abdel Razak Yehiyeh is the interior minister of the Palestinian Authority. He recently delivered a strong message against terrorism. "Stop the suicide bombings," he said. "Stop the murders for no reason. Return to the legitimate struggle against the [Israeli] occupation, without violence and following international norms and legitimacy."

Those are welcome words. The Palestinian Authority has been justly criticized for failing to oppose terrorism -- indeed, often for encouraging it. As President George W. Bush has made clear, Palestinian leaders must "engage in a sustained fight against the terrorists and dismantle their infrastructure."

Not surprisingly, leaders of four Palestinian terrorist groups said they will not halt the deliberate killing of Israeli civilians. The groups are Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

These and other Palestinian terrorist groups have killed hundreds of civilians in the last two years. Most of those killed were Israelis, but some were Arabs. And some were Americans. They include five United States citizens killed in the July 31^st bombing of a cafeteria at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The terrorist group Hamas claimed responsibility for that attack, which also killed two Israelis and wounded about eighty people, some of them Arabs. As President Bush said, "There are clearly killers who hate the thought of peace, and, therefore, are willing to take their hatred to all kinds of places, including a university."

As Mr. Bush pointed out, "The forces of extremism and terror are attempting to kill progress and peace by killing the innocent." Nevertheless, said President Bush, "I still believe peace is possible. And. . .I know that we can improve the conditions of everybody in the [Middle East] by working toward a vision that is hopeful and optimistic -- and not letting the terrorists destroy the possibility for peace."

That is why it is crucial that the words of Palestinian Authority Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh not fall on deaf ears. The fact that he made his statement against terrorism suggests that Palestinian attitudes are changing. That means the terrorists have no future. And that peace is possible.